LIVE MARKETS-US indexes down 1% each as Israel-Iran conflict weighs; energy up

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US INDEXES DOWN 1% EACH AS ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT WEIGHS; ENERGY UP

Major U.S. stock indexes are lower in early trading Friday, with investors on alert after Israel struck Iran's nuclear facilities, while energy shares rose sharply along with oil prices.

An energy ETF XLE.P is up 1%, while the S&P 500 energy index .SPNY is up 1.1%.

All eyes are on the Middle East after Israel launched strikes across Iran on Friday, saying it had attacked nuclear facilities and missile factories and killed military commanders. The action was aimed at preventing Tehran building an atomic weapon.

"It's not the worst-case scenario at all," said Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis.

"Last night equity markets started down about a percent and a half and regained about a percent of that, and what's really held on is crude oil futures. What I think the market is telling us is they expect this is different from what we saw last year," he said.

"The Israelis think maybe we can't wait for the 6th round of US-Iranian bilateral talks on Sunday," he said, so Israel may be "trying to deescalate by escalating."

Among declining stocks, shares of Adobe ADBE.O are down 6.6% even though the company late Thursday raised its full-year results forecast.

Here is the morning market snapshot:

(Caroline Valetkevitch)

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

DEGLOBALIZATION ISN'T A THREAT, IT'S A TRADE, BERNSTEIN SAYS CLICK HERE
CRUDE OIL FUTURES RUN-UP, BUT SO FAR REPULSED BY RESISTANCE CLICK HERE

EUROPE'S AUTOS MALAISE TO CONTINUE UNTIL OUTLOOK CLEARER CLICK HERE

OIL MOVES SHAKE UP RISK OFF CURRENCIES CLICK HERE

WHERE NEXT FOR OIL PRICES CLICK HERE

AIRLINE STOCKS FALL, ENERGY GAINS CLICK HERE
EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES TUMBLE ON ISRAEL'S STRIKE ON IRAN CLICK HERE